Yearly Archives: 2009

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Education in America

As both a  parent and a advocate for children I am always concerned about the direction of our public education.  President Obama today in speaking to Teachers Unions rebuffed the Democratic party and touted among other things merit pay for successful teachers.  He also talked about removing teachers who are ineffective as well along with investing more in early childhood education. 

Obama said,

“Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance.”

Obama also called for more charter schools and longer school hours.

I have some mixed feelings on all of these.  I am definitely for rewarding excellent teachers, I just don’t know how one will be able to measure that.  While good and bad teachers are often easy to spot, too often office politics, personalities and union mandates can prevent the better teachers from being rewarded.  I have seen successes in some charter schools.  My daughter attended one for 6 years before moving and having to go public again.  Her particular charter experience was wonderful.  She is further ahead than her current classmates.  At the same time, some charter schools are merely money making projects and I live in a town where the mayor is trying his very best to place all public education in private charter school creating hands.  He wants his political friends to get that steady stream of government education money. 

See that’s the thing.  If we look at this thing honestly, we’ll find that every education opportunity will not be the same for every child.  As much as I would like it to be, it’s just not a realistic thing to expect in a capitalist society.  If one can afford to pay for a high performing private school where that type of money invested more often than not assures the parental involvment and community support necessary to advance in the marketplace, more power to you!  Still we should value public education which means being innovative and trying new things.  Getting rid of bad teachers is an excellent idea.  School competition is a good thing as well.  Which is why the ideas of charter schools don’t particularly offend me.  The problem comes with excess of political pandering and bull$%#@ ways of doing things.  Ideas are great but the devil is always in the details.  I have been to enough school board meetings to see for myself.

I look at it like a double edge sword.  Back in the day big businesses used labor to generate profit but were reluctant to offer labor it’s fair share.  There is no question that there was a strong need for unions to bargain for workers.  Similarly, many unions have abuse bargaining ideas giving way to overpaid labor who don’t feel the urgency to put in a good days work since they have a level of protection.  For decades they have been steeped in their own level of corruption.  What are you going to do?  The powers that be on both sides are often inherently corrupt.  This is what we are dealing with when it comes to education in many ways.  And both sides are still fighting for majority and in some cases total control.

Because people take sides based on their affiliations, we usually get an either or approach instead of combining good ideas  to try to gain a viable solution.  And again if integrity is not at the center of the ideas and most of all injected into implementation of ideas, then far too many of our elementary and secondary educational facilities will remain inept.

What do you think?

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Poems By Resonate’ Tears

 

 

 

Tears

 

I cry for our nation full of more competition than compassion

For the backbiting over colors

And the backstabbing within them

I cry

 

I cry for the joblessness sweeping our nation

As politicians cater to the desires of the few 

While the needs of the many are ignored

I cry

 

I cry for the people I love whom I’ve let down

My good intention paves the road to disappointment

No matter how hard I try

I cry

 

I cry for the emptiness in my heart

The loneliness I feel putting out and out and out

The screams of my heart crying out only drowned out

By the noise of apathy 

I cry

 

I Cry

I cry for peace, internal satisfaction

Universal wisdom and holistic health

Love unconditional and internal wealth

Love for God love of self

A safe place to catch my breath

I cry

 

 Resonate’ © 2009

 

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Can’t Truss It!

In this March 24, 2007 file photo. Karl Rove prepares to address the Jackson

You know our president says that things are going to be different in that government will be more transparent than in recent years.  And I am not saying this situation is on him cause he has other things to deal with. 

But the fact that Karl Rove and Harriet Miers are going to be questioned under oath regarding the attorney firings of the Bush administration in secret is appalling to me. 

I am so tired of people being able to break the law, lie to congress or whatever and get off.  What purpose does it serve to question these people under oath in private?  This is a major public issue at hand.  I can safely say as well that no one is going to be called out.  No one is going to be charged with anything or subject to any punishment criminally or civilly.  The best one can hope for is a leak which would already be stating the obvious.  Not to mention if they lie under oath as they have before, there are no reporters who are able to fact find and double check ala Alex Rodriguez’s doping press conference. 

They say you can’t lie to congress or the feds and get away with it.  The truth is that only some can’t lie to either of these.   For instance Karl Rove, Roger Clemens, and Roland Burris can, but Marion Jones and Martha Stewart can’t. 

If nothing is going to be done about crimes or other illegalities,  I say just leave it alone.

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Black Folks That Can’t Get It Together Part 1

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 Canidate #1 Michael Steele

This guy is so confused… almost as confused as the Republican Party.  Steele is confused in that he doesn’t get that he is a tool for the party.  He is not to express an honest opinion or come up with any innovative ideas.  Most of the time he stuck to the party line; especially during the presidential election.  He attacked President to be Obama at every opportunity afforded him.  He was utterly ridiculous on the Bill Mahr show.  Which again is fitting of what they want from him.  This is why he was granted a chance to be GOP figure head.  They trusted him to keep their ideas and hero’s in tact… coupled with the black face for the “Obama” effect.  The party wants to have a “look”of diversity.  But that is only to draw more black votes.  But the flip side of it is that they are so hardened from the past 16 years of momentum from Clinton hating and Bush loving years that they can’t shake themselves hard enough to modify any of the hard core ideologies.

One only needs to see how some of these governors are refusing the 2% portion of the stimulus package that deal with extending unemployment benefits.  They are not enraged at CEOs taking billions, but damn those poor Americans who are losing jobs can’t get a cent extra of unemployment if they can’t get a job quick enough. 

But I digress.  Steele learned once again that he had to get back into his place as he incurred the wrath of the real head of the Republican Party Rush Limbaugh.  Limbaugh, the racist evangelical hate mongering drug abusing obese last bastion of white supremacy talking radio head has been making noise most notably post election.  He spoke at a venue over the weekend, and when Steele was questioned by D.L. Hugely about Limbaugh, said in so many words that Rush is an “entertainer” and also that his anti-Obama rhetoric was “incendiary” and “ugly.”   Some of us raised an eyebrow by these sentiments.  “Go ahead, “Man of Steele” break it down.”   But that was short lived.

After Limbaugh let Steele know that that the house he lives in with the republican party is not his, and that he could easily be put back into the fields Steele backed up quicker than Billy Graham resigned as Presidential Pastor after the election and actually called Rush to apologize for offending massa.  This was his public statement:   

“My intent was not to go after Rush — I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh.  I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking.  It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people… want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not.”

In the immortal words of Lil John… “WHAT?”  Those statements are not an interpretation, they are a cowardly retreat!  Rush and his supporters, “the real brain and energy of the GOP” gangstered your ass into your proper place… which is to carry their water! 

My message to Mr. Steele is this…  “Man if you’re going to carry the water, carry the damn water.  Stop trying to placate to the black community and act like you are down or something.  It’s bad enough you don’t know what a job is and most every time you get on TV you make a fool of yourself.  We don’t want you and are not impressed with your position.  All of this talk of inclusiveness and hip hop are Ludacris ludicrous!  You picked a side so just stay there.  And try having a candid conversation with J. C. Watts and he will tell you that to be a conservative is one thing… a perfectly acceptable brand of politics to hold to.  But the conservative views of your party are seeped in a muck of racism, classism, hatred, and a totally un-American un-inclusive set of ideologies.  Watts knows this first hand by how he was treated and that is why he no longer holds office.  Until you can man up and deal with that squarely, we have neither the time nor tolerance to consider you seriously. ”

By the way… Rush just called.  He needs a shine.  “So get your shine box!”

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What’s So Funny About Madea? Nothing. (Column from the Washington Post

 I would like to hear from people who both enjoy Madea as well as those who are offended or tired of him her.  Here is one man’s opinion.    

By Courtland Miloy

   Wednesday, February 25, 2009 

I went to see the Tyler Perry movie “Madea Goes to Jail,” in which Perry plays a wise-cracking black grandmother, Madea, short for “Mother Dear” and ebonically pronounced “muh deah.”

With an extensive criminal past that includes “supersize stripper,” attempted murderer and check fraud artist, Madea is a near-cult figure among many African Americans, especially women. Thanks in large part to them, Perry’s comedic creation debuted as the No. 1 movie in America over the weekend, raking in $41 million and 34 percent of the weekend moviegoing audience, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

At the AMC Magic Johnson Capital Centre 12 in Landover, where Madea is being shown 14 times a day, I was hoping to get a clue as to why this man in drag is so popular. And with the movie featuring guest appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Dr. Phil, Judge Mathis and Al Sharpton, perhaps I’d even get in a laugh or two.

Boy, was I wrong — on both counts.

All around me you could almost hear the funny bones cracking — deep guttural laughter coming not only from kids in the audience but from my peers in the AARP set, as well.

And there I sat, silently ranting: There is nothing funny about this black man in pantyhose. And where is all of this cross-dressing-black-man stuff coming from, anyway? First, comedians Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence star in high-grossing movies as the fattest, ugliest black women that Hollywood makeup artists can conjure up, and now here’s Perry with his gussied-up version of the same butt of the joke.

By the way, I don’t want to hear diddly about Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire or Milton Berle in high heels. Having a black man play super mammy is not the same thing. Perhaps it would be were it not for America’s perverse, systemic and centuries-long efforts to humiliate African men and women and turn them into slaves.

The only good a Madea movie could possibly do would be to remind us that the scars of oppression are deep and enduring, often operating below the level of consciousness, then breaking out in the most bizarre manifestation of self-hate and self-sabotage, including pathetic images on the big screen.

Of course, Perry’s fans don’t see it that way. When I asked some women in the theater if they were at all uneasy about Perry in wigs, lipstick and rouge, they clucked tongues and rolled eyes in a manner that Madea her/himself would no doubt approve.

“Oh, please,” snapped Darlene Johnson, 51. “It’s just comedy.”

Yeah, and misogynistic gansta rap is just music.

Said Sheena Young, also 51: “He’s just multitasking. His initial budget didn’t allow for him to hire all the people he needed so he played them himself. It’s awesome.”

I’m not taking away anything from the 39-year-old Perry’s resourcefulness and ingenuity.. He pulled himself up by the bootstraps from a low-income household in New Orleans, started writing and putting on stage plays about Madea (supposedly a composite of women in his life) and went on to become one of the most successful filmmakers in America.

He has a beautiful home and his own studios in Atlanta. He hires lots of young black actors and production personnel and makes considerable contributions to worthy causes.

He is awesome.

It’s just that his movies are awful.

Here’s a typical scene:

Madea’s brother, Uncle Joe, also played by Perry, is a crusty old coot who breathes with the aid of an oxygen tank while smoking marijuana throughout the movie (he even wears a bong around his neck). Madea, ever the boss woman, scolds him mercilessly about the dangers of mixing fire and oxygen. And — here’s where the audience howls — as Madea waddles past, her behind wide as a doorway, Uncle Joe cracks: “King Kong ain’t got nothing on her.”

How’d you like to see that on a movie marquee: Madea the black woman as King Kong? That’s about as funny, say, as a dead monkey cartoon from the New York Post?

It’s not a sign of respect but one of disdain to portray black women as some updated Jemima (that’s what a white character in the movie calls her) from the antebellum South. Sure, all of Perry’s fans claim to know someone like Madea. But in truth, we know nothing — only that she is aging and irrationally angry, existing to clean up everybody’s else’s mess, a linebacker of a house servant whose unmet emotional needs remain a mystery even to the great Dr. Phil himself.

We may laugh at her, but the joke is on us.

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A Mother’s Work and Wisdom Pays Off

mom-at-santa-monica-pier

 The Real Hustle and Flow Serve

Mom and her late husband George moved into a cozy apartment complex in Inglewood, California in the late 80’s.  Like most complexes in the area, it’s gated with secured underground garages.  With her keen eye for decore and artistic woman’s touch, I’m sure its the nicest apartment in the building.  The moving in price for this little hacienda?  $750 per month. 

For years the rent remained the same.  Mom and George knew the owners – a couple who owns several properties and a couple charter schools.  George, who was a CPA did their taxes so there was a working relationship between the two parties.

There is another reason my mom became a favored tenant.  She cleans not just her own apartment military style, she also polices the building for trash and debris.  She sweeps from street corner to street corner, and takes a water hose to the building a couple times a week.  It’s just how she is.  She enjoys a clean environment and it’s good exercise she told me.

Obviously being in one place for 20 years, there has been some change with the other tenants.  Some of the newer neighbors don’t value cleanliness and mom caught one lady dumping trash on the property.  That led to this exchange:

Mom:  Are you going to pick that up? 

Neighbor lady:  And who are you? 

Mom: “Uhh, I’m your neighbor.” 

Since that incident, mom has run into this person several times but the lady avoids eye or any other contact with mom and refuses to speak.

George passed a couple years ago.  And because the rent remained the same mom was able to manipulate some figures and survive on her income alone.  But a couple months ago the notice came that the rent was indeed finally increasing by $190.  Shocked, stunned and fearful mom went to the office to talk about the rent.  It seems that an advisor told the owners that they should be charging a lot more for the property in terms of the area and the value.  I would agree that the two bed room two bath place is worth more than $750 a month.  Still that was only logistics.  An increase that drastic would really strain mom’s finances.  She needed an edge.  Something to ease this potential monkey of her back.  While sitting before the owner’s wife, she thought about the services she was already providing in and around the building for over 20 years, thought quickly and blurted out, “You need a building manager?”  She pointed out that she has been doing the work of one anyway without benefit, and would probably do the same even if the rent increase still went into effect.  Perhaps she could continue to service the area for the difference in exchange for keeping the rent the same.  After consultation, they decided it was a go.  Mom could do what she was already doing and keep her rent cost down.  The owners would continue to have a person who looks after the place, an already loyal tennant who is heavily invested in the community.  A true win win.  Mom truly demonstrated the virtues of servant-hood and her giving efforts paid off financially for her in the long run.

Her last words on the subject?  “Next time I run into that littering neighbor and she ask who I am, I’ll look her straight in the face and say, ‘I’m the manager bitch!”

That’s my mom, a true treasure!

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American “Whackness” on Fox Television

As a lover of great music and an advocate of following your dreams, this is exactly why I cannot take American Karaoke errrrrr Idol seriously!  Last night on this rare occasion I watched the show, and this is what I get. 

This photo released by Fox shows Nicholas Mitchell performing ...

 … And will someone please help Randy expand his vocabulary.  Surely there are more words than ” the bomb, and Yo Yo dog!”  He says the same sh*# he said from season one!

And poor Paula.   I don’t know what medication that girl is on.  But she be lookin HIGH. Straight Up!

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Quick Political Thoughts

Obama's Rx: Innovation

* President Obama’s speech was awesome last night. 

* I think the crowd stood up so much it almost looked like an aerobic class!

* I love how he inspires Americans to be our very best and to continue to push ourselves to the next level. 

* It was great to hear about banker Leonard Abess Jr. giving a phat $60 million to his current AND former employees.  What style.  This man will always be blessed!

Leonard Abess just gave away $60 million to his employees after selling the bank to a Spanish bank. The bonuses came to tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is Leonard Abess, CEO in the lobby of the bank.

* Bobby Jindal is an idiot.  It’s clear that the GOP putting him out there as their spokesperson for their response is a reaction to the Obama effect.  It is consistent with Michael Steele being the first to head the GOP as well.  Back to Jindal, his speech was just hokey insincere and at times even insulting.  The republicans are still spinning from the election and still do not get it.  I wonder if they ever will.